Everyone struggles with different mitzvot or commandments. Their flesh revolts at compliance, their Adamic nature finds excuses. Worse, in some ways, is the heart, which, seeking to be pious and righteous, elicits falsely motivated emotions based on ignorance.

As you may know, I have been reading the life story of David Livingstone as he attempted with much devotion and sincerity as a missionary to preach his Congregationalist understanding of the Gospel to the natives of Southern Africa. On the whole, I have found him very inspirational but there have been times when I have been wont to shake my head more than once at some of the things this great man said and did.

It is no difficult matter to be religious but it is a very easy matter for the heart to be sincerely wrong and for false piety to establish itself and claim ownership of the soul. Like all of us, Livingstone was a man of his time - the 19th century - with its own very different European and African worldviews, containing right and wrong freely mixed.

We return to the all-too-real-at-times conflict between a tender conscience and misguided righteousness - it's easy to think and feel you're right when you're wrong. The conscience is something that has to be trained, and even though it has an inbuilt sense of basic right and wrong, it often errs in the details. Livingstone's ministry to African chief Sechele in what is now Botswana is a case in point, taking up what I was saying yesterday on the subject of Israel's marriage practices. Because Sechele had more than one wife, Livingstone forced the poor man to send away all but one of them, something churches have wrongfully done in Africa ever since they first arrived. This caused much distress to Sechele and his family as you might appreciate, creating a tension between one part of his natural-born conscience to love and cherish all his women and children, and another part of his conscience, artificially trained and imposed upon by Livingstone's false Romanist teaching about marriage, namely, that to have more than one was a sin, though you will search in vain for such a teaching in the Bible. As was the experience of many denominations operating in Africa, the Adventists being one that I have written extensively about before when they tried to tamper with African marriage practices in East Africa (though Pentecostals and other Protestant groups have done the same), the chief secretly returned to those he had been forced to cast off, creating a defiled conscience of guilt where none was warranted, since the Torah commands that all members of a plural family be cherished and provided for. In one respect Livingstone had been right in making sure Sechele generously provided for the women he sent away but he was quite wrong in violating the man's lawlful obligation to cohabit with them.

Let me give you another example because I know not all listening to me today will necessarily be sympathetic to Israel's marriage practices quite yet, and that concerns the matter of slavery, which Livingstone was rightly opposed to, and passionately so. I am sure you have heard of the hymn-writer John Newton and if not by name then certainly with his world-famous song, Amazing Grace.

Both the lyrics and the melody are sublime. And yet this man, so endowed with the Ruach (Spirit) for hymn-writing, most certainly had a defiled and poorly trained conscience in at least one major area of his soul. Newton, along with 17th century Englishmen in general, be they Puritan, Cavalier or Roman Catholic, viewed the black man as inferior by nature rather rather than by mere culture at that time in history (which is not to say there weren't faults with parts of 17th century English culture), which people still mix up today in the confusion of our postmodernist world. The Bible is most emphatic that all men of all races, as also all men and women, are of equal worth before Elohim (God) but all cultures are most certainly not equal. And yet what does our modern 21st century world teach? That all cultures are unconditionally equal (hence the push for multiculturalism), the barbaric along with the civilised, and that white men are inherently privileged and should therefore be actively discriminated against and canceled, and that men are inferior to women because they are more barbarous by nature. It seems we never learn. We still don't properly distinguish between the fallen, carnal Adamic nature (which is a satanically-controlled nature) and the authentically human nature which is that nature transformed by Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus) to be like His, as it was designed to be.

But back to John Newton who confessed that he never enjoyed sweeter communion with Elohim (God) than on his way to and from the Gold Coast (now Ghana) with cargoes of wretched slaves packed like sardines, lying fettered and and festering in the ship's hold beneath his feet in unberarable temperatures, attrocious conditions that claimed the lives of so many innocent souls. Yet this preposterous trafficker in human flesh could, and did, write with perfect sincerity, Amazing Grace, including the sublime words:

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fears.

The answer to this huge contradiction is the conditioning of the mind by false doctrine which duely trains the heart to either have feelings of tenderness and sympathy, or not, be it for certain groups of people only or for the whole human race. Most nazis were civilised, loving family men toward their own kith, kin and race yet treated with appalling cruely those races they deemed to be inferior or Untermenschen - sub-human, or not even human at all. And just as some white men viewed blacks as inferior, toward whom they showed little kindness, so too today we find black folks having the same atttide toward white men based on a similar pack of lies. This is why Yahweh's Davar or Word, which defines for us imperfect mortals what Emet or Truth is, which alone can guide our lives into right living and decent treatment of our fellow human beings, is so important. The treatmet of blacks and polygamists are but two examples. When the Catholics arrived in the Americas, they in many cases treated the native Indians as animals because of their barbaric cultural and religious practices such as human sacrifice. The early Mormons like Brigham Young viewed black men as animals with one important Mormon leader, Joseph F. Smith, even claiming that their god put a pair of them on Noah's Ark!

Ought we to be surprised? Today, as in the 15th century when the wretched doctrine of Calvinism was fully formulated by John Calvin, and earlier in its primitive form by Augustine of Hippo in North Africa, the acknowledged father and compiler of Catholic doctrine, the former Manichean who in consequence of his former pagan and sinful proclivities swung to the opposite extreme and thought, wrongly, that sex was something dirty, a teaching that has tainted Catholicism and some of Protestentism since, we find Calvinists like John Piper, a man with a sweeet temprement and a passion for Christ, believing and proclaiming a blasphemous doctrine of God whom, he and other Calvinsist teach, predestines half of humanity to eternal hell through no fault of their own since they do not, according to Calvin's perverted theology, possess free agency. And this that they even more blasphemously call (for those who are saved through no choice of their own) 'irresistable grace' for those whom their god predestined to salvation. Grace - unmerited love - is by definition resistable!

Please listen to me carefully. False doctrine leads to terrible mindsets and behaviour patterns which somehow are able to co-exist, like a split personality, in souls who also believe some true doctrines and whose lives may be said to be faultless in respect of that 'good half'. Indeed - and I want you to especially take note of what I am about to say now - there are those equally at fault who condemn in every respect those like Newton, Livingstone and the Calvinists as reprobate heretics or whatever language they choose to use, and in so doing cut such people off as if they were the devil themselves in every facet of their being. Those who do this - who condemn the good with the bad because of the bad - exhibit exactly the same kind of confused attributes they themselves repudiate. And that is why Yah'shua (Jesus) warned us to be very careful in making such sweeping judgments of people (Mt.7:1; Lk.6:37) because all of us, to varying degrees and in different admixtures, are an assorted mix of light and dark, good and evil, truth and error, and frankly only the Almighty Himself knows in precisely what proportions.

And whilst this sad and sorry state is an unfortunate condition of the typical human soul, redemption in Christ demands that the wrong doctrine be excised and the poisoned mind and heart be cleansed because Yahweh cannot, and will not, accept such an intolerable mix in those who aspire to the First Resurrection. Poison has a way of spoiling the whole broth, affecting its various parts, so that the good also seems to be bad. This was the theme of my talks during the spring festivals this year, and which I emphasised at Chag haMatzah which Yahweh specifically crafted to remind us that He demands purity - real purity, not just jurisdictional purity upon the legal declaration of the Judge. We have to get cleaned out throughly and completely. This is a theme that recurs right the way throughout the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments with metaphors like being purged like moulten gold commonly being used. Failure to recongise this one truth has contributed hugely to the muddy doctrinal mixtures that we have today seen in Livingstone, Newton, Calvin and some early Mormons. I could have given you many more examples. The pure sinless One, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), makes such human purification totally possible, desirable and mandatory through His atoning sacrifice.

Like I said, it is very easy to be religious (we're all religious quite spontaneously), and it is even easier to be a religious zealot...or indeed an irreligious zealot too. The common denominator shared by both the religious and irrelgious in this instance is ignorance which leads to a defiled conscience and I suspect that only an overwhelming testimony and impartation of the deep, deep love of Elohim (God) in Christ, that requires a peculiar sensitivity of heart and openness of mind to all truth, can ever accomplish in man that which will create within him an undefiled conscience and garnish a zeal which saves rather than destroys, for both religious and irreligious people are equally capable of destructive tendencies. Therefore any Gospel message, that does not emphasise this deep, deep love of Christ, which, coupled with a sound Biblical education, may only be acquired supernaturally through spiritual regeneration by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), that does not dispell superstition and falsehood, is bound to be counterfeit and lead ultimately to failure and at best to a second-rate inheritance in the resurrection, and worse, to that third category which no man or woman would ever wish to receive.

So my message today on this the third day of the Battle of Jericho is to expand upon, and to emphasise, something that David Livingstone believed about which one might call 'essential preaching'. Our favourite topics, like his, ought to be the love of Christ, the Fatherhood of Elohim (God), the resurrection, and the last Judgment, to which I would add, the Motherhood of the Ruach haQodesh or Holy Spirit (for we need the female touch most definitely, and not any counterfeit such as that claimed to be the 'Virgin Mary') and absolute doctrinal accuracy which is only possible by strict obedience to the Father's Torah. ALL TRUTH must surround, embrace and define all of these things, for without it, we are not safe and can by no means trust our own inner impulses, however 'right' we may believe them to be. Our preaching and witnessing must be defined by all of these things. It will then be simple, scriptural, conversational and - most importantly - it will hold the attention of all who are willing to listen to us. It will engage truth-seekers.

Which brings me full circle back to the words I spoke when I began this talk: Everyone struggles with different mitzvot commandments. Their flesh revolts, their Adamic nature finds excuses. Worse, in some ways, is the heart, seeking to be pious and righteous, that elicits falsely motivated emotions based on ignorance.

Therefore, only by faithful adherence to Yahweh's Torah and Yah'shua's (Jesus') teachings together can man hope to possibly resolve these conflicts of the heart and mind. The Remnant consists, therefore, as the Book of Revelation testifies, of "those who obey Elohim's (God's) mitzvot (commandments) and hold to the testimony of Yah'shua (Jesus)" (Rev.12:17, NIV) - both parts of the equation are essential, both the messianic and the evangelical. For only with both these components is the Bride then able to "sing a new song" before the Throne (Rev.5:9: 14:3). Who sings that song? And what does that song consist of? Those who sing that song are exclusively the "144,000" (Rev.14:3), the children of the first resurrection, of whom it is written, if you will believe it and allow your traditions to finally be burned out of you:

"No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women (defiling relationships in the pagan system), for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as bikkurim (firstfruits) to Elohim (God) and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless" (Rev.14:3-5, NIV).

And what exactly was or is this "song", being as it is clearly so very, very important? This has been the message of his ministry from the beginning, so listen well:

"...those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name (i.e. they were't 'raptured away' to escape the Tribulation). They...sang the song of Moses the servant of Elohim (God) and the song of the Lamb" (Rev.15:2-3, NIV).

What is the "song of Moses"? It is the Torah which justified African chief Sechele in keeping his wives and shows up Livingson to have been wrong and to have a defiled conscience in this matter, amongst other things. This song justifies and praises those who observe the Sabbath, the festivals, the dietary laws, and everything else that is in the Father's mitzvot (commandments).

What is the "song of the Lamb"? That is the salvation or 'evangelical' message of the New Testament! This is the song sung by one who has a life in Christ!

These are TWO INSEPARABLE SONGS IN ONE - messianic (Torah-complient) and evangelical (Gospel-compliant) - you can't have the one without the other and hope to be of the 144,000, the Bride, the Elect, the Remnant, the Firstfruits, the Firstborn, the children of the First Resurrection! You can't! I told you that the Book of Revelation was a doctrine-sifter and I said it was terribly important. Evangelicals hate the Torah and many Messianics hate the Gospel of Grace, even if both pay lip-service to them using different vocabularies, the evangelicals calling the Torah "the Word" (and then fudging it by picking and choosing what to follow and what not to) and messianics calling the Good News "the Besorah" (and then fudging that by 'Judaising' by in many instances claiming you must wholly earn your salvation).

This is probably the most important message you'll ever hear from me - indeed, Yahweh had me up at 4 am this morning preparing it as it is so important. My bones were on fire writing it. Your own Jericho's walls cannot - and will not - come down until you accept this truth and put it into action in your life. Of course, you are justified somewhat in the days of your ignorance but now you are no longer ignorant having heard me today so Yahweh demands a response. Until make it, you will get no further in your spiritual journey, and no authentic revival will come your way...but plenty of counterfeit ones certainly will, each spawning new false doctrines, as keeps happening in the charismatic movement with the likes of Toronto and Pensacola.

Messianics, stop denouncing Christians, demeaning the Cross and promoting soul-sleeping, stop promoting Jewish kabbalistic occultism, Zionism and Judaism's extra rabbinical holidays (like Hanukkah and Purim) and pagan Saturday sabbath worship and candle cermonies, stop attacking the Deity of Christ and demoting the Ruach (Spirit) to a force like the Jehovah's Witnesses, and self-righteously proclaiming that only those who pronounce the divine Names right are saved, or whatever your non-biblical issues may be.

Christians, stop attacking the Torah, quit eating pork and unclean seafood, quit your pagan holidays (like Christmas and Easter) and Sunday-worship, observe the festivals, stop attacking polygamists, stop promoting the Rapture, Zionism, King James-Onlyism and Calvinism, quit your charismatic babbling, wear your headscarves and tzitzit, quit prosperity teaching, name-it-and-claim-it, or whatever your biblical or non-biblical issues may be.

All of you, quit alcohol and tobacco, swearing, porn, adultery, fornication, sodomy and every form of idolatry, liberalism, and whatever Yahweh condemns directly or by implication. In short, REPENT - change direction or perish! (Lk.13:3,5) Pursue holiness, sing the Song of Moses and Sing the Song of the Lamb. Treat your bodies like Temples of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) (1 Cor.3:16; 6:19).

And I know not all messianics and evangelicals fall into these categories and there are lots of other issues too - I just wanted to give you a sample of the Jericho's that need removing from the Body of Christ before any of you with these issues can move on and 'take the land' that's being offered you. There's a Pesach sheni or Late Passover coming up in 11 days for those of you who want put things right with our Heavenly Father and obey the mitzvah (commandment)!

So I'm going to leave that with you today, including one or two loose ends that I will attempt to tie in the next four days, so please let me have your questions if you have any. Until tomorrow, keep marching! Yahweh bless you. Amen.

Acknowledgements

[1] Rob Mackenzie, David Lvingstone: The Truth Behind the Legend, 2nd edn. (Fig Tree Publications, Chonhoyi, Zimbabwe: 1996)